It’s taken me a while to get round to writing this post so either
- This will be new knowledge and you will be excited
- You’ve read it all before (if so move along please nothing to see 😉 )
So the Collin’s Dictionary have added mumpreneur as a word in their 2011 Dictionary. Is it about time? A sign that mums in business are being more recognised for the work they do?
There are the pro’s – MumsClub write a great post here about what it means to them. And there are the against – Motivating Mums which is a bit ironic if you read it Debbie states the term made her feel inadequate – not quite the motivating mum 😉 but everyone will have their opinion and I’m sure you will have and share yours with me!
I know your all waiting to hear what the term means to me. Now that is a tricky question. I see mumpreneurs in a different light to business mums. I see business mums as anyone with children – if you think about it the Queen is one 😉 Mumpreneurs on the other hand are mums more like me. Splitting their time between writing a book and breast feeding a baby. Sewing party bags in snatched moments while the older children are at school and the baby is asleep. Answering emails at midnight in my pj’s, talking into my dictaphone in the car and scribbling in my notebook at soft play (I’d look like a loon using the dictaphone here!) – you work is dictated by your children they come first … is this you? Then I believe you too are a mumpreneur.
But I won’t be a mumpreneur forever .. as soon as I have 9-3 child free Monday-Friday my life can be more structured. My working day will be during school time, my evenings dedicated to reconnecting with my long forgotten partner (although Daddy Moo is possibly not looking forward to nightly chit chats with me!) and maybe watching some decent TV. I might even get chance to read a book or two. I will be a much more conventional working mum – business mum. My business will come first, earning lots of money enabling me to have 6 weeks holiday in the summer my priority. My children will take a mini back seat, as they spend their days learning.
Those of you who know me well will know this business mum status has been a bit of a mission for me! I have been dreaming about September 2012 when I was to be child free … now with the introduction of baby Olive my child free days now wave at me in the distant future of 2015!
But you know me I wouldn’t change a thing!
A normal life would be way too boring!!
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Hi
I wrote a post recently about the term mumpreneur, even though both my children are at school, I still do a lot of juggling and do work late into the night. What I call myself depends on who am I talking to. I think mumpreneur can sometimes be a bit scary for mums just starting out. But I am proud to be a mumpreneur.
I think it is great that there is a definition for mumpreneur now but I wonder how ‘dadpreneurs’ feel about it as I am sure there are plenty of them.
I think I am a cross between a mumpreneur and a business mum as my sons go to nursery 4 days a week so I have the luxury of having child free time to do my work. They don’t start school until the year they turn 6 here in Norway so I have a while to wait yet – and you never know we may be lucky enough to have one more before we call our family complete.
When they do start school the school day here is much shorter over here so I think I will probably feel more like a mumpreneur then! x
I blogged my feelings on the word here http://www.littlesheep-learning.co.uk/blog/2011/mumpreneur/ I use the term within the mumpreneur community but outside of that I say we are a family business…
I’m not a fan of the word mumpreneur, but maybe that’s because my children are older and are all at school now.
I don’t see myself as a mumpreneur. I’m a bit of an inbetweenie as I both work for myself and am employed but when I wasn’t an employee, I would term myself as a business mum.